Suhail Hani Daher Akel

Postcard of Gratitude

It was something outstanding. I had to be near my friends, to bring close those who are not friends and to shake hands with those who consider themselves adverse.

From the intellectual and academic point of view, it was necessary for me to recompense all they have offered to me, giving me the opportunity of crystallizing this work; maybe, an exiguous part of my dreams.

My Palestinian blood has not become water. I have devoted a large part of life in exile to being near my people, my birthplace Jerusalem...my house made of stone there, the Old City of prophets and the Palestinian Jesus Christ.

From my pen to my prose, I have expressed the necessity of life, I have been opposed to the death and grief of people and I have emphasized that all human being had the same need of equality and that nobody was a bearer of a divine message to take off the life to the other one.

The violent uprooting and exile are horrible and they are the worst humiliation suffered by a human being. Maybe, the world has not realized yet what has happened to the Palestinian people, what has happened to me and to my family as members of that people. But I could not fill my heart with hatred or fill my pen with anger. Nor had I to forget. I did not forget. I have kept that in my memory and – from grief – I have learnt to apply the fortitude of forgiveness and I have tried to transformed the tortuous past into a fruitful life expectancy.

In each Olive Tree for Peace that I have planted, I have placed that hope, thinking of my children, the children of the others and the children of everybody. But it was not only a hope of peace, a fragile and spurious word, but, fundamentally, a search for dignity, which allows the human being to come across with himself, to dignify himself and to dignify to his fellow creature.

These are the motivations which have mobilized me for sharing my feelings, my trajectory and the love I feel for the fellow man, even for the one which has caused me so much grief and suffering. This is my postcard of gratitude and love.

Until Jerusalem

Suhail Hani Daher Akel,
in the spring of 2005

Important: It is allowed to reproduce and publish each interview without changing their contents, respecting the copyright, citing this source and sending a copy of the publication to the e-mail in this site. Thanks for your co-operation